Total spending on construction projects in Egypt marked a 5.14% drop in the 2013/2013 fiscal year (FY), according to a Tuesday statement by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). CAPMAS noted that the figure fell from EGP 14.78bn in FY 2011/2012 to EGP 14.02bn for the 2012/2013 fiscal year. The agency cited an unstable economic scene and consequent decline in construction projects as reason for the decline. Total spending on construction of residential buildings reached EGP 847m for FY 2012/2013 compared to EGP 970m the year before, registering a decrease of 12.60%. Spending on constructing healthcare buildings reached EGP 222m in the year 2012/2013, compared to EGP 289m in 2011/2012, registering 23.17% decline. A decrease of 1.46% was recorded in the construction of the water stations and networks by public sector companies/public businesses. Expenditures reached EGP 3.20bn in 2012/2013 in comparison with EGP 3.25bn in 2011/2012. The expenses on electricity stations, networks and transformers projects reached EGP 441m in 2012/2013, compared to EGP 458m in 2011/2012, marking a decrease of 3.71%. Hassan Abdelaziz, CEO of the Egyptian Federation for Construction and Building Contractors (EFCBC), said that the announced number is "too optimistic" and that the current situation may be worse than that. He added that construction companies are opertating in Egypt at only 60% capacity. Abdelaziz noted that this would affect unemployment, with a rising number of job losses which would hit the public sector harder than the private sector. He mentioned that the project to build 1m residential units announced last March, to be implemented by the armed forces and Emirati construction company Arabtec, and other low-income residential units might mitigate the effect of the problem. Abdelaziz also said that the decline has no relation with the coming presidential elections. It depends mainly on the state's resources and whether the government has enough funds to construct projects or not, he said.
